Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden addresses transfer Alex Fudge
Jacksonville native Alex Fudge has officially joined the Florida Gators men’s basketball program, head coach Todd Golden announced on Monday.
“We are very excited to have Alex join our Gator basketball family,” Golden said. “Alex is just scratching the surface in terms of his potential. He’s already proven to be an impactful defender that makes winning plays and can guard multiple positions. Offensively, we believe he will make a big jump for us getting out in transition more and playing in the middle of the floor in the half-court. We can’t wait to see his growth from his freshman to his sophomore season.”
Fudge averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds as a freshman at LSU last season. The 6-foot-8 forward boasts a seven-foot wingspan and was a four-star prospect out of high school who averaged 17.9 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 5.7 blocked shots for Lee High School (now Riverside).
Fudge announced the transfer to Florida on April 13 on his Twitter page.
He arrived in Baton Rouge as a four-star recruit and was a top-100 prospect in the country from the Class of 2020, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
Fudge adds to the Gators’ roster
Golden quickly assessed his roster and made a significant push to keep Colin Castleton. That recruitment worked when Castleton announced he was staying at Florida for a fifth season.
Will Richard, a transfer guard from Belmont, recently joined forces with the Gators as well. He averaged 12.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game this past season as a freshman.
Richard is aggressive on the perimeter in attacking the lane. He has exceptional length, which helps him finish around the basket. And when he gets to the foul line, he’s an 80.4 percent free throw shooter.
The Gators also avoided a near-scare with sophomore wing Kowacie Reeves. Reeves surprised Florida basketball fans and the program when it was revealed that he intended to enter the portal earlier this week. He never actually officially entered his name into the portal before his intentions to stay at UF were revealed.
Reeves was a top-50 player in the On3 Consensus for the 2021 recruiting class. He appeared in 29 games (10 starts) and played 15.5 minutes per game, averaging 5.5 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.5 steals while shooting 33 percent from 3-point range.
Reeves really came on late in the 2021-22 season. He scored a career-high 21 points against Texas A&M. Reeves also scored 14 points in each of Florida’s two NIT games.
